


Placebo

by thebasement_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-03-15
Updated: 2001-03-15
Packaged: 2018-11-20 05:03:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11329146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebasement_archivist/pseuds/thebasement_archivist
Summary: Other uses for moisturizer.





	Placebo

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

Placebo by Alison

Placebo by Alison  
Feedback: Yes please, to   
Category: Langly/Byers slash  
Rating: NC-17 for m/m relationship  
Disclaimer: not mine, etc  
Spoilers: Nope  
Archive: Unusual suspects, Basement, Ephemeral, Gossamer: anywhere else just ask  
Summary: Other uses for moisturiser  
Note: The report referred to in the story is genuine  
"PLACEBO: (LATIN) "I shall please": 1st person sing. future indic of PLACERE "to please": (1) A pill, medicine or procdure, to be prescribed more for the psychological benefit of the patient of being given a prescription, than for any physiological effect. (2) A substance with no physiological effect used as a control in testing new drugs. (O.E.D.)"

* * *

Around 2 am

Byers drifted back to consciousness with a sigh, unwilling to release his hold on that delicious semi-waking condition where he was totally relaxed, only just aware of where he was. But something had wakened him . . something was missing. There was an empty space, a void, a lack of warmth which should have been beside him.

He slid his hand sideways and found only empty space. The covers were thrown partly back, which accounted for the cold draft which must have wakened him. Ringo was gone . . . but only just gone, because the mattress beside him still held a trace of the warmth of his lover's body. Byers sighed sleepily. Must've got up to take a leak . . . stay awake till he gets back . . . I'll teach him to get up and leave me in the cold . . .

A few minutes later, impatient, he rolled over and squinted at the alarm clock. 2 am . . . suppose he's okay . . . better go see. . .

Heaving himself out of bed, he fumbled his way into his bathrobe and stumbled, still half asleep, down the corridor to the bathroom. The light was on, the door slightly open. Something stopped him calling out.

He pushed the door open cautiously. Langly was there, bent nearly double over the sink, one hand rubbing his forehead.

"Ree? Are you okay?"

Langly jumped about a foot in the air, and something fell from his other hand into the sink. He whirled round. "Oh, shit . . . Jeez, John! Whaddya want to sneak up on me like that for!"

"I came to see if you were okay . . . what're you doing?"

"Nuthin, nuthin" . . . was he *blushing*? He took a step forward, preventing Byers from seeing into in the basin. "I'm okay, I'll be back in a sec, okay? Just go back to bed."

Byers' curiousity, and his concern, was now at full pitch. "Ree . . . I know by now if you're hiding something. What is it? Are you sick? What's wrong with your head?"

"Fer gossake, what's a guy to do to get some privacy round here? Just leave it out, willya?" He saw Byers' hurt expression and stopped short. "Look, I'm not sick, okay? Just . . . don't. Please."

Byers stared at him, even more concerned now. "No, Ringo. Why can't you tell me what it is? I thought we trusted each other."

Langly looked away. God, he *was* blushing. Softly, now. "Please, Ree. Tell me."

Langly's eyes were tracking round the room, as if looking for a way out. Finally he fixed on an immensely interesting patch of floor, and muttered reluctantly, "Promise you won't laugh."

Amid his surprise, Byers felt a spurt of relief. At least he *wasn't* sick. "Okay, I promise."

"Well . . ." Langly turned away and picked a small plastic pot out of the basin. "It's this."

"What is it?"

"Well . . . did you see, a few weeks ago, that report from a study they did in England on . . uh . . "

"What?"

"It was . . . " His voice dropped to a mumble.

"WHAT?"

"It was . . . a hair restoring lotion."

Temporarily surprised into silence, Byers could only stare at his lover in mingled exasperation and affection. He struggled not to laugh in sheer relief, staring at his friend in consternation. He had rarely seen Langly so vulnerable, like an embarrassed little boy. Langly took his silence for inquiry and rushed to explain further.

"I found this report in the online edition of the London Times . . there's this biotech company in Cambridge, England, they did this study, a double blind test, half the guys used this experimental stuff and the other half used a placebo, and they found that only 20% of the guys using the new stuff showed any improvement, but 40% of the guys using the placebo . . . and it was just a moisturiser you can buy across the counter in any pharmacy in England . . . and it only cost five dollars . . . I figured, what the hell, it was worth trying, so I got Ali in England to send me some . ." he broke off, flushing even deeper.

Byers picked up the pot, a plain white plastic jar with blue lettering, examining the list of ingredients curiously. "Ringo, this is just a dry skin lotion, nothing unusual in it at all. There's no way this can help your hair."

Langly nodded. "I know . . . the report said as much. They figured it was all in the mind. These guys thought it would help, so it did. Purely psychosomatic." He shrugged. "Pretty dumb, yeah?"

Byers stepped forward and put his hands on Langly's shoulders, squeezing gently and looking deep into his eyes. He searched for the words to express the feelings threatening to burst his chest. "Ree, I'm sorry . . . I didn't think you cared so much about how you look."

Langly looked away. He spoke softly, almost whispering. "I care about how I look to *you*. You always say how much you like the way my hair looks."

"Oh, god, Ree . . . you're always beautiful to me, don't you realise that? Whatever you look like, I'll always want you. Love you." He ran a strand of the blonde hair through his fingers. "Yes, I love your hair . . . but it doesn't matter, can't you understand? I love *you*."

Langly shrugged. "Well anyway, it's not your problem, is it?" He turned away, looking bleakly at his reflection in the mirror. "You don't have to wake up and look in the mirror each day and see your best feature gradually disappearing."

Byers reached out for him, wrapping his arms round Langly from behind and laying his head on Langly's shoulder, searching for the words to reassure his lover. How could he explain to Ringo how little this really meant in terms of the depth of his love for him, when it was clearly a matter which hurt his lover deeply. Not for the world could he hurt Ringo by making light of this.

He straightened up, reaching for the container again. "Why don't you let me help."

"Huh. How?"

"Come back to bed . . . and let me do whatever you have to do with this stuff."

"Shit . . . look, don't patronise me John . . ." but he trailed off as Byers grasped him firmly by the hand and pulled him back down the corridor to the bedroom, figuring that Langly wouldn't protest too loudly in case they woke Frohike, who would never rest until he found out what he had been doing.

Back in their room, Byers made Langly sit down on the side of the bed and moved round to kneel on the bed behind him. "Now, what am I supposed to do? Just massage it in?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Okay, here goes" and he began to massage Langly's thinning hairline gently with the cream, his fingertips moving in small slow circles. "This okay?"

Langly sighed and relaxed, tipping his head back to rest on Byers' shoulder. "Mmmm, yeah . . .". His eyes drifted shut and his breathing deepened.

Byers continued the gentle massage, watching Langly relax more and more under his attentions and feeling his weight gradually increase against him. He was warm against Byers, solid and warm, and the skin contact, the warmth and the familiar scent of his body and his hair started Byers' thoughts, and his instincts, moving on a very familiar course. The warmth of Langly's body was contagious, spreading through Byers' stomach and down, down, starting a pulse beating in his groin, getting into his blood . . . he was beginning to get hard . . .

Byers moved back slightly and turned his head to look at the younger man, who appeared to be nearly asleep. Byers smiled to see this view of his lover, and dropped a quick kiss on the top of his head. He was rewarded with a twitch of Langly's mouth, so he did it again. And again. Oh yes, Ringo, you know what's gonna happen . .

"Ree, how long you been using this?"

Langly sighed. "'bout a month."

"Mmm . . . well Ree . . . sorry, but I don't think it's doing anything for ya. "

"Yeah, I know . ."

"I was wondering - um - if we couldn't find a better use for this stuff here. . ."

He took some more of the lotion on his fingertips and stroked them slowly down Langly's temples, around his ears, fanning out down his throat. Kissing down the same track, breathing warm on Langly's neck. The skin was smooth and silky under his fingers with the moisture from the lotion. One hand sliding over Langly's shoulder, running his fingers lightly down the breastbone. Langly took a deep breath and let it out in a soft laugh. "Okay, buster, I think I see where you're goin' with this . . ."

Byers slid both arms round the younger man, pulling him tight against him, letting his hardening erection press into Langly's back. "You want it?"

Langly leaned back harder, trapping and squeezing Byers' cock between their bodies. "And if I said no . . .?"

Byers nuzzled on Langly's shoulder for a while, then shifted back a little, pulling Langly back with him onto the bed. "Lie down."

The blonde man flopped on his back on the bed and Byers moved to kneel astride his thighs, leaning forward and running his hands over the smooth chest. Langly began to breathe hard, deeper, and reached for Byers's shoulders; the older man laughed and pushed his hands away, pushing them back down to the bed. "Lie still, relax, let me do this."

He took some more lotion and began to massage Langly's body slowly, working his hands gradually downwards, stroking his fingers along the line of the ribs, kneading the firm muscles of his lover's abdomen, sliding up again to tease the nipples before moving purposefully down again. Langly groaned softly, shivering uncontrollably and shutting his eyes tightly, totally absorbed in the sensations his lover's touch was sending through him.

Down, down to the groin, teasing round the base of Langly's cock which was now straining upwards stiffly, moisture trickling down from the tip. Byers didn't touch the cock itself, running his fingers slowly round the base, tickling lightly before moving away, down again, rhythmically massaging Langly's firm thigh muscles till they relaxed and his legs moved apart; then leaning forward and licking the sensitive inner thigh. Langly groaned out loud, "John, oh, Johnny, Johnny . . ."

The dark haired man sat back and looked down at his lover, who was panting and quivering with need. "Hmm . . . well, that stuff hasn't done anything to help your hair, but it sure has stimulated growth down *here*"

He grinned and leaned forward, only now taking Langly's cock in his hand and stroking firmly again and again from the base to the tip. Langly cried out and thrust upwards convulsively. Byers squeezed firmly at the base and Langly subsided with a groan, panting.

He opened his eyes to see Byers leaning over him, looking intently at him. The older man moved off him and pulled at him gently. "Turn over."

Langly shivered in anticipation; he knew what was coming next. He rolled over on his stomach, catching his breath as his stiff cock was crushed against the firm mattress. He turned his head to one side on the pillow so he could watch Byers out of the corner of his eye.

Byers straddled Langly's thighs once more and took more lotion on his hands, leaning forward to massage down Langly's back. Repeating the actions he had performed on the younger man's chest, he worked his way down the firm muscles of Langly's back, allowing himself to become more excited now, tracing each side of the slim hips and then over the beautiful rounded twin curves of his ass. Langly spread his legs apart and Byers slid his fingers down towards his lover's most sensitive spot; Langly was so sensitive there he could come just from Byers touching him around his entrance. He took some more lotion and traced his fingers down; his fingers teased back and forward over the sensitive opening, light as a feather. Langly was making little whimpering sounds, sobbing into the pillow and jerking his hips up to get more of his lover's touch. Byers slid one finger just inside and out again; Langly flinched uncontrollably and arched his back, letting out a tiny gasp. "John, now . . ."

Byers knew what he wanted and slid his body forward so that he was lying with his whole weight on top of Langly, his stiff cock rubbing against Langly's asshole. Langly shuddered in ecstasy as Byers began to rock gently, his cock massaging and teasing his lover's most sensitive point. He writhed and pushed himself back against his lover, as Byers leaned forward and nibbled the back of his neck and shoulders, alternately licking and rubbing his beard against the heated skin. Byers was so hot himself he was ready to come without needing to be inside Langly. The sensation was building inside him, stronger and stronger, a volcano getting ready to blow, and he rocked harder and harder, feeling Langly bucking up against his thrusts till his body erupted in shattering orgasm against Langly. He slid off to one side as he heard Langly, too, cry out in ecstasy as his own orgasm overtook him, pumping into the bed beneath him.

Semiconscious, he was vaguely aware of being rolled over on his back and Langly wrapping him in his arms. Sticky and sated, they held each other sleepily as the sensations gradually ebbed from their bodies, leaving them totally relaxed. Byers slid his arms round the slim muscular waist, running one hand possessively over his lover's ass. He chuckled drowsily into Langly's neck. "You know, Ree, you were wrong."

"Whassat?"

"You were wrong . . your hair's not your best feature."

"Mmm--hm?"

"Nah . . . it's your ass. Definitely your ass . . ."

"Ow!"

"Go back to sleep, Ree."

END


End file.
